[Elecraft] K2 "legacy product"

[Don Wilhelm]

Sean,

You may be building a legacy product, but let me assure you that the K2 
will be supported by Elecraft as long as it is feasible.  The major 
problem is vanishing parts.  For example, the fine K2 encoder was 
discontinued, but the Elecraft design team stepped up to the challenge 
and developed a daughterboard for the encoder used in the K3 in order to 
support the K2 for both new builds and repairs.
Similarly, the Speech Compressor IC used on the KSB2 board became 
unobtainable, so the KSB2 board was redesigned to use an alternative.
A few years ago, the IF amplifier used in the K2 was no longer available 
in DIP format, so Elecraft designed a carrier for the SMD version so 
builders (and those doing repairs) could have an easily usable alternative.
There are some ICs that have been discontinued, and Elecraft bought a 
"lifetime supply", so the only source for those ICs is now Elecraft.
A lot of work has gone into efforts to keep the K2 alive and 
repairable.  There may be an end to that capability someday, but it is 
not in the near future.

I also should say that component failure is not the most common cause of 
K2 failures, but poor solder connections are top of the list, both for 
new builds and older K2s.  A bad solder connection can work fine for 
years before it develops enough oxidation to fail.  Since I 
repair/upgrade/build 3 to 4 K2, K1 and KX1s each week, I can make that 
statement with confidence - I have seen it many, many times.
Bottom line, if a K2 works right after 90 days, it should be solid for a 
long time to come unless it is abused in some way - such as leaving the 
antenna connected when not in use.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 1/27/2014 6:08 PM, Sean Michael Johnston wrote:
> I realize that I’m building a legacy product here, but from the activity I’ve seen on this mailing list, it’s definitely not dead yet.
>
> Thanks -  Sean (working on the call sign)
>